Eggstravaganza

We are so close...Tomorrow evening at 5:00 we will gather in our parish hall to read the Gospel story. Jesus will tell the disciples to prepare the room for dinner and get a donkey for Him to ride on. We will begin Holy Week, eight days culminating in a remembrance and celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

We read the passion account this weekend, but there will be a special liturgy on Good Friday, as well. Then we also read the passion account. We will meditate on the sufferings and death of Jesus. We will pray for the church and the world. We will reverence the cross. We will leave in silence.

Well, not all of us. You see, Good Friday is the annual downtown Easter egg hunt. That is right, what better way to spend your Friday than an eggstravaganza? Children will gather with their parents for the festivities. There will be games and music and, oh so much fun! Last year it was such a popular event that parishioners had difficulty finding parking spaces for church. The air was filled with happy sounds. No need to be somber about that nasty old cross, let's look for some eggs and eat some candy!

How does this happen? It is a combination of Evangelicals who do not celebrate liturgical seasons and secularists who agree with them. Most people in these parts just have no idea about Good Friday. It is not a special day for them. Combined with that is practicality of scheduling. We Americans are big fans of getting things started, we are not real patient, nor do we delay gratification. Why hunt Easter eggs on Easter when you can do it two days early? I think there is also some hope that the local economy will benefit. The ads for the event include an exhortation to stick around and eat at one of the nearby restuarants.

Meanwhile, other Epsicopal churches will be deep in meditation. They will ponder CO2 and the beauty of recycling. They will reflect on Mother Earth and her wounds. They will preach about salvation through green energy. It is earth day, after all, and that is too important to pass by.

So at St. Andrews Church in Collierville, we will be out of step. We will not celebrate the Eggstravaganza. We will fast and pray instead. We will not worship Gaia nor practice any other ecological liturgical celebrations. We will focus on Jesus and the cost of salvation. What we will do will not make much sense to a world full of different kinds of Christians, secularists and pagans. It will be a clear demonstraton that we do not belong. Yet, there is something appropriate about it. My guess is the crucifixion of Jesus was no big thing to most people of His day. Only a few mourned His passing. Only a few pondered Him, beaten and bloody, stumbling along under the heavy cross. Most were business as usual, many had no idea it was even taking place.

Perhaps the real question is will those of us who do celebrate the Feast of the Self Offering on the Cross open our minds, hearts and souls to the depth of the mystery? Will we listen to the story and hear it? Will we meditate on His death and increase our own imitation of His life? Will we read words and prayers or worship in spirit and truth? As awful as Eggstravaganza is, as horrible as earth worship replacing Jesus worship is, the most awful thing possible next Friday is that we who know better may not do better.